Eureka is usually a pretty light-hearted and whimsical show, but this week’s season premiere is definitely on the darker, more serious side.

To recap last season, Global Dynamics spent a majority of the time preparing to launch the spaceship Astraeus to Titan, one of Saturn’s moons. The ship was ready to launch by the finale until Beverly of Eureka past sabotaged the project and gained control of the launch. This culminated in the Astraeus and its crew disappearing from GD.

The final season’s premiere kicks off with the Astraeus crash-landing onto…Earth! The crew is picked up by GD personnel led by Deputy Andy, now the head security officer of GD. Andy though first appearing like his normal happy self quickly becomes more serious, delivering the line “Quarantine everything” in chilling fashion. Carter arrives to the quarantine area much to Allison’s relief, but the look on his face does not mirror hers. His unexcited “You’re back” really accentuates the fact that something is different about this Eureka. Then Carter drops a bomb, the Astraeus has been missing for four years! Eureka has been known to play with alternate timelines that change the dynamic of the show and its characters. In fact, it’s happened twice in the past! So though the four year leap is a shocking revelation, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that the writers would do this.

Carter’s former household A.I. (S.A.R.A.H.) is now in charge of GD. The town has an almost Big Brother mentality as the A.I.s are watching over everyone and using a device to make people obey when they have become disobedient. Copies of the android Andy are acting as security around town. The increased use of Andy and his current state is a welcome sight for Kavan Smith (Andy) fans. He was great in the Stargate franchise (mostly in Stargate: Atlantis) and deserves a more involved role as the formerly lovable but now eerily dark android.

The next big revelation of the episode is that Carter and Jo are now together and in love. The first third of the episode foreshadows this well with Carter’s confusing emotions, Jo’s reluctance with Zane and Allison’s daughter having drawn a woman in a picture of her family. There has always been a very definitive group of fans who support the idea of Carter and Jo together. Throughout the series there have been small hints that the two may possess feelings for one another, but the show has otherwise strongly pushed for Carter/Allison and Jo/Zane.

In a very moving scene, Allison accidentally observes Carter and Jo kissing as she realizes not only has she lost Carter, but Jo has been helping raise her daughter. Only days before in Allison’s mind she had given in to her feelings and agreed to start a family with Carter, and now it has been torn away.

So after all of the major changes and emotional moments, the closing scene of the episode reveals that everything just witnessed is not reality. The entire crew of the Astraeus was in fact captured by Beverly and is now tapped into a Matrix-style pod. Their minds are being used for something while they think they’re living in a world which does not exist.

The writers should be proud to have successfully tugged on the minds and hearts of the viewers so many times in one episode. The twists and turns are maximized for the viewers’ pleasure. Like previous Eureka season premieres before it, “Lost” is a strong episode that provides serious story elements and major game changers. There will probably be a divide among fans who are happy with the actual reality and those who prefer the imposter world the Astraeus crew is experiencing, both of which will run in parallel with each other for the rest of the season. These final episodes must have been fun for the actors playing characters in both realities, especially those with major differences (Colin Ferguson’s Carter, Erica Cerra’s Jo and Kavan Smith’s Andy), and should be an entertaining way to take out the series.

By Christopher Laplante

Chris Laplante grew up in Connecticut but now lives in Albuquerque, NM. Though an engineer by day, Chris’s passions lie elsewhere: film, music, television, travelling, sports, graphic design, animation, etc. He continues to focus on his passions outside of work thanks to his blog, music podcast and the effort towards starting up a creative collective with a few friends/artists/animators/photographers .

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